Russell(Rusty)Roddy

Former Director of Scheduling and Advance

Former Director of Scheduling and Advance

Rusty Roddy formerly served as the Interior Department’s Director of Scheduling and Advance. He left the position in January 2018.

Russell “Rusty” Roddy, a graduate of Auburn University, is a Washington insider who worked in three Republican administrations before joining Trump’s Interior Department. In the 1980s, Roddy worked in the Department of the Interior in the Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations, then moved to the Department of Energy during the George H.W. Bush administration. He also worked in the George W. Bush administration. While marketing director at Gallery Watch, the company mailed “about 1,000…faceless voodoo dolls to lobbyists, corporate politicos and legislative gurus to promote the company’s service that tracks federal legislation.”

Background Information

Previous Employers

Rusty Roddy, a Washington insider, has worked in three Republican administrations. Roddy worked in the Department of the Interior in the Reagan administration, the Energy and Interior Departments in the George H.W. Bush administration, and the Office of National Drug Policy in the George W. Bush administration.

Rusty Roddy, from November 1988 to November 1989, was a “Confidential Assistant to the Director of the Office of Surface Mining” within the Department of the Interior.

From November 1989 to January 1991 he served as “Confidential Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy” within the Department of Energy. Rusty Roddy, from January 1991 to January 1992, was a “Special Assisant [sic]” in the “Office of the Secretary – Office of Special Projects” within the Department of Energy.

Rusty Roddy was the “Intergovernmental Affairs Liaison” within the White House Office of National Drug Policy from May 2004 to June 2005.

In a November 2004 executive branch staff list, Roddy also appears as “Public Affairs Specialist (Events Manger)” within the Office of National Drug Control Policy in the Executive Office of the President.

While Rusty Roddy was marketing director the company mailed “about 1,000…faceless voodoo dolls to lobbyists, corporate politicos and legislative gurus to promote the company’s service that tracks federal legislation.”

The dolls arrived “in a box that reads: ‘GalleryWatch.com has everything you need to track legislation…now here’s something to help influence it.’”

Gallery Watch also used a voodoo doll in its marketing with “incantations” like “‘Ways and Means. House Rules, too. Heed my wishes or I’ll voodoo you,’ and ‘Snow and sleet. Ice and rain. Pass this bill or feel some pain.’” Market Watch used “voodoo facts” to help its clients “influence” legislation. A marketing publication reported that “the accuracy of the voodoo facts” was “dubious.”

Russell Roddy was the Director of Partnerships & Public Events for the National Park Foundation, where he planned “high profile media events” for such luminaries as “the Jonas Brothers.”

Rusty Roddy was the “Director, Partnerships & Public Events” at the National Park Foundation from September 2008 until 2009. Roddy’s duties included planning “high profile media events” for such luminaries as “the Jonas Brothers.”

Financials

Other Information

Rusty Roddy has posted a variety of offensive remarks on Facebook. He implied that a Liberian woman was a prostitute simply because she was a Liberian, and told a woman riding a horse she had worn “kind of a low cut top…hope your ‘girls’ stayed under cover… Yee-haw!”

In 2009, Rusty Roddy posted a photo of a Liberian woman on Facebook and made a comment that appears to make fun of the way she speaks, saying, “this is the lady who is like the top entertainer in Liberia. She is the one who sang her number one hit ‘Tank Ew Gorge Butch’ at the luncheon at the Presidential Palace in Liberia and got the President up on stage to dance with her.”

[deleted Facebook post by Russell Roddy, accessed 02/24/17]

On a photo of the same woman standing with one of his friends, Rusty Roddy repeated his jab at the woman’s speaking and implied that she is a prostitute. Roddy commented, “I knew you had the same pic. ‘Tank Ew Gorge Butch.’ I kind of feel that she two-timed me though hugging on you like that…but, wait…is that cash in her hand.”

He continued, “as I recall, Liberia was know[n] for their ‘paid companionship’…and I guess you were a happy and satisfied customer based on the smile.”

Rusty Roddy, in 2009, commented on a photo of a woman on a horse. He said, “not one to really offer fashion advice…but…um…kind of a low cut top in which to ride horses…hope your ‘girls’ stayed under cover if you ran that horse. Yee-haw!”